Tuesday, December 22, 2009

We have been occupying ourselves in composing irate letters to the Lord Bishop on the subject of Glynn Cardy and the Virgin Birth (see previous post), but we did notice that Father Longenecker thinks Shakespeare was a Roman Catholic.

The trouble with this thesis is exactly what Fr Longenecker writes about it--there is an awful lot of time in Shakespeare's life we don't know about.The evidence we have is fragmented--it is likely, based on hearsay evidence, that Shakespeare's father made a Catholic will.

It is true that he went to a catholic minded priest to marry his wife.

It is true that his plays (like Hamlet, for instance) have many Catholic ideas in them.

And it's true Warwickshire was a bastion of traditionalism--accounting for plays like A Midsummer Night's Dream.

But half of England was still Catholic-minded in 1590, if not Papist--that's where the Civil War came from, and half the Church of England is catholic minded still. Distentangling Shakespeare from his culture is problematic on such small evidence as we have--he would hardly be the first son to reject his father's religion.

Shakespeare conformed to the Church of England at several points during his life, and there are lots of plays which seem to have Protestant ideas in them as well (Measure for Measure is not kind to the Poor Clares, or the Franciscans).

Finding signatures saying "William of Stratford" is interesting, but it's rather like having a signature saying "Jesus of Judea"--How do you know it's the famous one?

You can make the evidence say lots of things--not sure you could call our Will a Puritan (in fact, you can't). But gaps and fragments don't lead to much of anything, except an honest "I don't know" because very little is known about Shakespeare's life. Like most people back then, in fact.

His exercise in trendy sacrilege (see above) has been defaced by a heroic elderly woman and it will not be rebuilt. The bishop is irritated at the embarrassment, the evangelical and catholic-minded Anglicans are furious.

And the best thing of all?

The whole world has heard this pious fraud deny the Creeds printed in the Book of Common Prayer, the Articles of Religion, the teaching of the undivided Councils, the plain witness of the Bible, in favour of....

Himself.

At least the old pagans who mocked the Virgin Birth, and denied the purity of Mary had the decency to worship something other than themselves.

No adoring hordes will queue up outside St. Matthews to worship the Spirit Within Glynn Cardy (If you do, watch out for a distinct tinge of sulphur).

No one will write music, or compose liturgy, or praise in choirs of many voices The Great Man, and The Spirit of Joy represented by the warmed-over Archdeacon.

No-one will be martyred, confirming with their death the Sacred Faith of Nothing in Particular.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

We are not quite sure who to thank for this frabjous event, the soft-liberal-to-the-point of squishiness MPs in the Liberal Party who just could not make up their minds, or the real heroes of the piece, the Liberal Party base.

Ordinary people who called their politicians. Ordinary people who put their wallets away.Ordinary people who demanded the Party they wanted--that is, one that wasn't Labor's lapdog.